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How does a musical string together star-crossed love, conspiracy debunkers, flat earthers, lesbians in bunkers, the illuminati, influencers and virality, sour pineapple slurpees, and secret government facilities filled with nukes? By fully committing to the bit, of course.
Flat Earthers: The Musical fully commits to every ounce of its glorious chaos.
Created by Jean Tong, Lou Wall and James Gales, Flat Earthers tells the story of conspiracy debunker Ria (Shannen Alyce Quan), who falls in love with flat earther Flick (Manali Datar).
As Ria tries to draw Flick out of their bunker, they grapple with the depths of the internet, conspiracy theories and why we believe what we do, as together they face a world-ending threat.
Photography: John McRae
Flat Earthers is a pink and purple hued, meme-filled, boppy trip down a vaporwave rabbit hole to an internet wonderland (think: neon sunsets, fluffy clouds and checkerboard voids).
But like the borders of spaces on the internet, the walls of Flat Earthers: The Musical are never really that solid. The combined effect of Brockman’s clever set and lighting design with Xanthe Dobbie’s elaborate visuals allow a double archway with a white fringe curtain to take us across the internet and into the real world — and even out of it.
Photography: John McRae
This is accompanied by an original score (with songwriting by Lou Wall and James Gales, music production by Gales and music direction by Jude Perl) full of catchy bops and ballads with clever lyrics, although these sometimes get lost amidst the chaos with repeat watchers likely to be rewarded with finding more of the jokes woven in the songs.
Photography: John McRae
With the help of Dobbie’s video projections, the cast float in and out of windows chatting to each other across platforms. Interspersed are memes, emojis and other snippets that feel strangely realistic for an internet adventure.
As the stage — or more accurately, the amount of the stage the cast play within — expands in the second act, so does the depth of the story.
Commanding the story and stage in the second act is performer and comedian Michelle Brasier as Mz Prism, the leader of the Illuminati threatening to nuke the world. At more than one point, Brockman’s lighting and Fetu Taku’s choreography expertly unite to stunning visual effect, transforming Brasier almost into a hologram complete with her own triangular pyramid.
She moves from chaotically unhinged to emotionally vulnerable with ease and style as we learn more about her backstory. Brasier deserves an award for making me eerily close to genuinely believing that nuking the world could be a valid choice.
Photography: John McRae
The cast of Flat Earthers is refreshingly diverse and ridiculously talented. Shannen Alyce Quan and Manali Datar are thoroughly enjoyable as Ria and Flick. Their emotive performances maintain a sense of believability in a plot that could very easily feel too wild to believe. Amanda McGregor and Lena Cruz are delightful as Flick’s mothers (and as their earlier existence as Alanis Morissette-loving lovers). The exuberant Milo Hartill and Zarif are raucous in their many roles; their comedic chemistry as Mz Prism’s henchmen Jared and Jessica is stellar, particularly during a certain reptilian reveal at the end of the show.
Flat Earthers gifts audiences with a chance to find common ground, wrapped in a package of queer joy and chaos, complete with its own bow of a stellar cast and crew.
Flat Earthers: The Musical is playing at the Hayes Theatre from October 11 to November 9. Tickets can be bought here.
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